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Watch the ‘Red Dragon’ Hannibal Preview from Comic-Con and the Hannibal Panel (Update)

The future of Hannibal still hangs in the balance (sadly both Amazon and Netflix have passed) and at the Hannibal Pannibal on Saturday at Comic-Con Bryan Fuller said they are still exploring options including the possibility of a feature.

There is still plenty of Hannibal left to enjoy and it looks like this week’s episode will be wrapping up the Hannibal on the run storyline. A time jump of three years will take us into the Red Dragon arc and a five minute preview reveals a whole lot more of Richard Armitage as Francis Dolarhyde (the blurring button is getting a workout this season). Armitage was introduced to the world of flower crowns and Fannibals at the panel this weekend.

Armitage appears far less terrifying here than he does as Dolarhyde and it really looks like he has captured the terrifying physicality of this character that in the past has been played by Ralph Fiennes and Tom Noonan. There are two sides to Dolarhyde and if this preview is anything to go by Armitage nails both.

If you are unfamiliar with the Red Dragon arc and don’t want to know what fate awaits Hannibal then maybe wait to watch this clip until after this Thursday’s episode, but I definitely clapped my hands with glee at new haircuts, visual flourishes, red suits (because of course) and different living arrangements. This is the one Thomas Harris book I have read and I’m looking forward to seeing how Bryan Fuller is going to put his spin on the material (especially when he has used some of it for the Freddie fakeout last season).

https://youtu.be/loOgfXNs-VI

Updated!

Watch the super fun panel below includinb Bryan Fuller revealing how Comic-Con played a big part in the “spitters are quitters” line from a couple of weeks ago, how short shorts are coming and Hugh Dancy reminding Fuller of which Red Dragon lines they have already used. Also Fannibals have such good costumes and questions.

http://youtu.be/Dmi1ubZQtZo

Head here for a review of last week’s episode “Dolce.”

Tags: Bryan Fuller, Caroline Dhavernas, Comic-Con 2015, flower crowns, Hannibal, Hugh Dancy, Laurence, Mads Mikkelsen, preview, Red Dragon, Richard Armitage

Comments 5 Comments
Categories Comic-Con, Hannibal, Preview
Author Emma Fraser

Where Does One Begin and the Other End on Hannibal?

10 Jul

So that is what it feels like to take Bedelia’s concoction of drugs as this is one super trippy episode of Hannibal – yes even by Hannibal standards – as beginnings and ends blurred as one with all the many players in the Hannibal hunt approaching their prize. Plus there is always time for a kaleidoscope infused sex scene (thankfully minus the stag man from the last super trippy sex montage).

Last week ended with a broken and bloody Hannibal limping away into the night with a bruised and bloody Will Graham heading in the same direction to offer up his forgiveness. Hannibal is cornered, but he is not going to go down without a fight and while there are many after him; the conflicting reasons behind their desire to get Hannibal offers him up a chance of escape. Some want to kill him so they can shed that part of them, others want to cage him as he had caged them, money provides motive as does good old fashioned revenge.

All are operating outside the law so even though Jack and Alana just want to see him behind bars (I think both wouldn’t be too upset if he was killed but they’re primary objective is justice without any more casualties) they are working with other forces who don’t necessarily share this same view.

Jack wants to save the broken imagination of Will Graham which he borrowed and set him on this path of destruction; he tells Will that he needs to cut out the part which dreams of leaving with Hannibal. And this is probably why his choice of weapon against Hannibal is a knife as by slicing Hannibal it might free him and maybe he wants to etch a matching smile on his belly to solidify their bond. Will is foiled by Chiyo who is waiting with her rifle and her desire to cage the beast. Hannibal really does have a way of drawing people in and manipulating them in such a way that it feels imperative to protect him against all danger.

This gives Hannibal to opportunity to return to his position of apex predator as he now has control over an injured Will and plenty of drugs to subdue him. Tying him up is for later and despite not having read or seen the movie Hannibal I am very aware of the Ray Liotta brain eating scene and my dread levels at who might receive this fate grew with every moment Will sat at the table and the back of his head was in shadow. When Will asked who else was coming to dinner those fears shifted from Will to Jack who we see entering the building and sharing a lift with Chiyo, rifle case and all. No words are uttered in this journey up to the seventh floor and instead of engaging in violence Chiyo simply retreats saying she has got the wrong floor. Maybe she realized that there are too many players in this scenario and now she can fly free.

Unlike the epic fight sequence last week Jack enters the apartment without the upper hand and Hannibal is lying in wait under the table, ready to pounce and have the dinner party that was so rudely derailed at the end of last season.

Will is informed that you should never ask what is for dinner as it ruins the surprise, the surprise being that you are the one who is being served. Ah yes it is Will who is to suffer the brain eating and Jack can do nothing but react (cue plenty of screaming). The blood budget continues to grow this season as Will’s sprays all over the place rising up toward the ceiling as Jack’s did when he lay dying in Hannibal’s wine cellar. Cutting from the blood spray and blue skies to both Will and Hannibal strung upside down and back in America as they are welcomed to Muskrat Farm by none other than Mason Verger; Verger in this moment is Will’s savior and future torturer.

How did we get from dinner about to be served out of Will’s head to snowy scenes? Bedelia and Mason’s riches are the key to this one and instead of buying just one police officer Margot went ahead and made ‘friends’ with the whole department. Bedelia may not be fooling anyone with her “I’m Mrs Fell” routine, but she is not the prize everyone is vying for so in the end she gives the all important clue to Hannibal’s location and I’m guessing they arrived before too much damage could be done to Will’s already broken brain.

Mason has a whole lot planned for Hannibal and by extension Will (a two for one deal) as he is also high up on Mason’s shit list for various acts such as being present when the face eating occurred and impregnating his sister.

In one of Mason’s dreams he is walking (although his face is still disfigured) and surveying the Peking Duck version of Hannibal as the centerpiece of his revenge plan. While Mason seems to be winning in the ‘Who can get to Hannibal first? game (aside from the Pazzi money he lost) he doesn’t realize there is another scheme at play between his sister and Alana.

Flirtation has progressed to a super trippy merging body parts sex scene which feels like a sequel of sorts to the even trippier five-way that took place last year between two different bedrooms; Will saw Alana where Margot was and now Alana is there for Margot too. This pairing and subsequent hook-up is fine, but I also wish there had been more groundwork aside from that initial flirtatious scene in the stables because it all feels rather rushed. The way Alana ties up Margot’s black and white DVF wrap dress (which I am coveting hard) shows a level of care and intimacy telling us a lot about their union and yet I would have liked to see more buildup between the pair. It also nicely links back to Alana’s pre-window incident styling.

Alana is wearing the plaid suit that got me so amped when I first saw it back when the promo photos were released as it mimics Hannibal’s style while also showcasing her new sartorial direction; the red plunging blouse and matching lipstick add to this aesthetic and there is still plenty of femininity in her look. It is also less severe than the all red looks which has dominated her costuming this season.

Margot’s let her hair down since Alana arrived and her curls mirror her new lovers while offering up a softer more nurturing side to her brother as part of the ruse. Mason’s cruelty took on a disturbing level when he not only terminated Margot’s pregnancy, but also removed her uterus taking away her choice and chance at any inheritance. Her plan is still focused on getting that back and Mason holds the key; he thinks she is agreeing to raise a child together, but instead she is in collusion with Alana and Alana is going to turn Mason into the FBI when he has Hannibal. In the end Alana Bloom is still very much the same Alana Bloom as she was before the defenestration encounter.

Now both Hannibal and Will are on the farm it seems that Alana’s position within the Verger inner circle will be of paramount importance; how will she react when confronted with a Hannibal in need of savior?

History has a way of repeating as Bedelia notes (and something I focused on last week) and the “hot darkness of Hannibal Lecter’s mind” has a way of dragging people down into the inky abyss in many different ways. Bedelia is one such person and she has embraced this at times including an actual embrace as Bedelia and Hannibal go beyond bathtime chats in levels of intimacy in “Dolce” with an actual goodbye kiss.

In a reverse of Bedelia’s whispered assurance that she believed Will last season when he was locked up, Will leans in and whispers “I don’t believe you.” But at this point Bedelia is giving none of the fucks and the performance Gilliam Anderson gives as she’s half propped up is incredible.

Just look at this exceptional face.

Jack even admits that he can’t be that mad at her because her plan is quite incredible and they also note her unprecedented survival skills. Lucky for her the net closed in before she had marinated for the appropriate time and this suggests her weekly trips to the same high end deli was no mistake; she was simply sending out the signals as to Hannibal’s location to anyone who might be looking. Even though she has essentially been free the entire time, as with everyone else she can’t leave his sphere of influence and she is another one of his birds. But at least she had the foresight to hatch her own escape plan for when he did get caught.

Drawn together and in a scene which resembles a meet cute of sorts in the gallery location which means so much to Hannibal (which gave me instant About Time feelings), but instead of it being a first hello it is reunion wrapped up in a goodbye. They share smiles, jokes, hurt feelings, catching up on what they have been up to. The usual.

There is a strong romantic undercurrent from the music that floats between the words to the discussion about how they are blurring into one. Except the romance here is tinged with death as Will reveals he feels guilty of all of Hannibal’s many, many crimes. We have been inside Will’s head so many times where he experiences other people’s diabolical acts and it isn’t surprising that some of them have remained inside his empathetic mind.

We’ve spent so long circling Will and Hannibal and when they would sharing the same space beyond mind palace chats, stabbing hug flashbacks and playing “I forgive you” hide and seek so when they came together in this location it hit me harder emotionally in a way I wasn’t expecting. Sure really horrible things went down after this conversation, but in this moment in the gallery I totally understood all the Hannigram devotion. Plus Hannibal turned Bedelia and Will into Botticelli figures which is some kind of next level fan art from Hannibal.

And for surreal inky ‘we become one’ images look no further than Will’s drug induced dinner time visions.

Now Will and Hannibal’s fates are entwined in another fashion and it isn’t a case of whether Will kills Hannibal or if Hannibal eats Will. Instead they are both in the same pig farm predicament and it is going to be fun seeing how they get out of this pickle and where it leaves them after.

Tags: "Dolce", 3.06, About Time, Caroline Dhavernas, costume design, Gillian Anderson, Hannibal, Hugh Dancy, Katharine Isabelle, Laurence Fishburne, Mads Mikkelsen, meet cute

Comments 5 Comments
Categories Hannibal
Author Emma Fraser

In the Belly of the Beast on Hannibal

3 Jul

To catch Hannibal you need to be several steps ahead of him, which is hard to do as he has been playing this game far longer and with more success than anyone else. Season 3 of Hannibal has turned away from the case of the week format where Hannibal played a role in helping catch killers while adding to the ever growing body count. The confrontation between all the participants in Hannibal’s world at the end of last year – friend, colleague, lover – revealed who Hannibal really is (some were more aware than others) and set in motion a whole chain of events which has led to this very different narrative setup.

The pacing has been a little meandering in places sharing in Hannibal’s indulgences while the survivors piece themselves back together and decide what to do next. There has been much talk and many shots of snails doing their thing whether they are being eaten or helping the transformation of another creature such as the firefly. Snails are hardy creatures when not being devoured by Hannibal and his dinner guests as they can survive being eaten by a bird and making it out of the “belly of the beast.” The firefly played a big part in the tableau Will created at Hannibal’s childhood home and signified a transformation with Will taking on the Hannibal role as he talks to Chiyo about the man he manipulated her into killing. Chiyo might have spent years practically alone ‘standing still’ but she can read Will’s intentions. Hannibal taught her well.

In a rather intimate scene shifting away from their usual bathtime philosophical discussion – do they ever take part in talk which is not layered with meaning? – and with Hannibal as the one wearing less clothes the conversation is dominated by doing things that are in our nature. Hannibal’s belief in not shocking news is that it is “Better to live true to yourself for an instant” Bedelia thinks that almost anything can be trained to resist its instincts including Will Graham, but as Hannibal points out that instinct is always there, regardless of the training. There is also the reciprocity of Will travelling to kill Hannibal while Hannibal waits to kill Will. Plus all those other interested parties waiting to upset the balance. While all of this is going on Hannibal caresses Bedelia’s neck which both reads as menacing and comforting. I’m still wondering if they have slept together and leaning at probably not despite the lack of clothes.

Snails and fireflies. Night and day. One comes after the other and this issue of duality is an underlying theme of Hannibal. The person we are versus the person we allow the world to see can vary and for the first two seasons as the audience we know exactly who Hannibal is and for the rest of the characters this has come to light at different points. Will is sympathetic towards Hannibal because he understands him and this bond is rare, but this is probably not a good enough reason for the crimes that have been committed and would not stand up in court as a reasonable defense.

The battle for Will Graham pits Jack against Hannibal even when Will is not present, plus it is an internal war he wages with himself as he fears he might become Hannibal if he doesn’t kill him. And really he has already done some pretty fucked up bad things as part of this long game.

Chiyo reasons there are other ways to influence outside of violence and she blindsides Will with a kiss before pushing him off the back of the train. Sex and money are two big ones with money playing a big part in the downfall of Pazzi. Pazzi is down on his luck and even though his home life is one full of light and happiness it is his forever quest to catch Hannibal that haunts him.

Pazzi’s folly is that he repeats the mistakes of Jack and Alana as he goes after Hannibal outside the bounds of the law he works in. For Pazzi this is motivated in part by Mason Verger’s reward along with the desire to catch his monster. Once again Hannibal is one step ahead and he even has an elaborate and public way to kill Pazzi echoing what happened to one of his ancestors who also fell foul to the promise of riches.

This is one dance with the beast that won’t result in surviving to tell the tale and Will warned Pazzi that Hannibal would kill him. Like Will, Alana knows Hannibal intimately and after they have spoken to Pazzi she tells Mason they are sending him to certain torture and death. Alana is different after the attack and this is evident as I mentioned last week by her shift in styling which has moved away from ultra-feminine silhouettes and prints to tailoring with a severe edge. Long gone are the wrap dresses and pencil skirts; enter pants, a whole lot of red and silver blazers with amazing lapels (this echoes the Margot Verger gold jacket which sadly never made it to screen).

The old Alana hasn’t been completely erased due to the extra marrow in her blood or the pain she is trying to mask with lipstick, a new wardrobe and a steely gaze; she’s still there below the surface and her instinct tells her to ring Pazzi to warn him of how dangerous his task is. But she is too late and instead she gets a rather chipper Hannibal who seems very pleased to hear her voice. Alas he has pressing issues (bowels in or out?) and can’t chat for long.

For Alana it looks like she has been punched in the gut and seen a ghost at the same time when she realizes who is on the other end and this temporarily cracks her cool give no shits demeanor. She might be able to handle Mason and all his crass talk about her relationship with Hannibal without even flinching, but Hannibal Lecter is a whole other story. This is the worst kind of running into your ex when you least expect it story, even when it is just his voice. Months of therapy down the drain after that interaction. I’ve been rewatching Wonderfalls and Caroline Dhavernas is the queen of the reaction shot and this is the case in this moment too as she gives a look of shock and a brief chin quiver before resetting to almost neutral.

The Will/Hannibal reunion is going to have to wait a little longer especially as Will has found himself alone (well apart from the stag) and on foot. That really was bold and cold move by Chiyo but I also have to applaud the way she dispatched him so easily. If only Will could jump onto his imaginary stag and ride it like a horse.Prior to this as they chatted on the back of the train the idea of night and day came up and how at night we are a little less seen. Once again the notion of who a person is versus how they appear is an important discussion point and Hannibal has been embracing who he is far more this year than previously.

For Will he is still caught between these factors and he mentions how he hears voices from everywhere. As he lies on his train bunk bed enveloped in darkness it gives off a coffin vibe. Water has played an important in showing which characters are drowning or sinking into this bleak world, here it is just darkness.

The dance up to this point has been slow with the narrative unfolding in a manner which has allowed Bryan Fuller to indulge in his love of art house cinema. This has mostly been brilliant and an interesting approach with incredible visual flourishes, but I did have to stifle an eye roll at the coins going into the payphone in slo-mo as that really did feel unnecessary. Tension was increased as confrontations took place first with Pazzi and Hannibal followed by one supremely kick ass fight sequence.

Repetition of shots is something Hannibal does so well and early in “Contorno” we see Jack look to the skies prior to scattering Bella’s ashes in the country they met. He also throws his wedding ring into the water in a move that is maybe a tad impulsive as this feels like something to keep hold of. Maybe he is really letting it all go and the ring is a necessary casualty. Later he has this super twisted Romeo and Juliet looking moment with Hannibal, but they are not star-crossed lovers and there is man missing his guts swinging between them. This episode includes many trips down memory lane and how past mistakes get repeated in the present. Hannibal plays the piano because it is the instrument which has the “quality of a memory” and he knows exactly who Pazzi is. Pazzi makes the mistake of his ancestor in valuing money above honor and pays the exact same price. Alana makes a phone call as a warning as she did in the season 2 finale which doesn’t have the outcome she wanted. Time is a flat circle, right?

Well one bit of history not repeating comes in the epic beat down Jack delivers on Hannibal and as with the kitchen fight he uses all the tools at his disposal including a rather unpleasant grappling device. It takes the tension from the Pazzi scene and explodes it over the screen as Jack does by throwing Hannibal through a glass case. Hannibal tries to bait him with sympathy and suggestions of how he eased Bella’s pain and when this doesn’t work he asks the simple question “How will you feel when I’m gone?” Jack answers with the equally simple “Alive” and is everyone going to feel trapped for as long as Hannibal is free?

Jack doesn’t kill Hannibal and instead Hannibal makes his escape bloody and broken down the dangling body of Pazzi looking very much like he probably did at the end of the new Rihanna video.

Can anyone ever truly get over having been in the belly of the beast?

Tags: "Contorno", 3.05, Caroline Dhavernas, costume design, Gillian Anderson, Hannibal, Hugh Dancy, Laurence Fishburne, Mads Mikkelsen, Tao Okamoto

Comments 4 Comments
Categories Hannibal
Author Emma Fraser

Putting the Pieces Back Together for those Hannibal has “Framed and Maimed”

26 Jun

Last season of Hannibal ended with a lot of broken bodies lying on the floor; Will, Abigail and Jack bleeding profusely from a variety of stab wounds while Alana lay outside in the rain after being pushed from a first floor window. Out of the four victims, three are still alive (Abigail exists in Will’s mind palace shifting this week to a bloodier version than how she appeared in episode 2) and in various states both physically and mentally regarding their ordeal.

Other victims of Hannibal’s manipulation are still around to tell their tales and Fredrick Chilton acts as a sad kind of Hannibal hunting recruiter offering his services only to be rejected by all. One such person is Mason Verger and it was never Hannibal’s intention to kill him as Mason so astutely points out; his horrifically disfigured face and current state of living was all part of the plan.

What “Aperitivo” does is shift the focus away from Italy and back to Baltimore tracking the last 8 months through the physical rehabilitation of those Hannibal left behind. The most obvious in terms of time passing is Alana who goes from being pushed out of the window – now she has a reason to use the word defenestration – to a device which holds her broken bones in place in a room worthy of a sci-fi movie. A room without a TV is punishment enough without adding Chilton blathering on about how she put herself in the position to be pushed out of a window. He might bring a nice bunch of flowers, but he really needs to work on his bedside manner. Later she goes from a wheelchair to using a walking stick and as with the others who have been hurt by Hannibal she has a strong defense strategy in place.

Not that she isn’t haunted by what took place; you can bury those memories deep but they will continue to bubble under the surface in certain circumstances particularly when revisiting the scene of the crime.

Vengeance is what Alana is after and it is actually Chilton who gives her the idea to use Will to get there as psychiatry is her tool in the same way predators use understanding (which she points out to Mason Verger in a later conversation). Alana has been romantically involved with both Will and Hannibal and she was put in the position of Hannibal defender last year creating numerous issues (I wrote about the disservice to Alana here). Hannibal told her that he tried very hard to blind her and here she accepts some of the blame as you “cannot see what you will not see.” Instead of being fearful or a quivering wreck in need of a good psychiatrist Alana is heading into revenge territory by whatever means necessary even if that means teaming up with Mason Verger in the guise of his psychiatrist.

Opportunity is how Chilton presents himself and he doesn’t have much of anything that anyone else needs; he doesn’t have the same insight or resources as the other players in this game. Instead he comes with flowers for the wounded and reveals his true face to Mason comparing how Hannibal fucked up their look with an ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’ kind of situation. Chilton has a lot of covering up to do, but at least he didn’t eat his own nose.

Mason rejects Chilton just like everyone else does despite their shared scars and interests. Chilton’s self-serving plan which he attempts to masquerade as team work is so transparent; all he wants is Hannibal in his hospital and the ability to use the “Hannibal the Cannibal” name he copyrighted straight after he had been shot in the face. Chilton wants what is owed to him through his lost body parts with fame and fortune and this has always been his primary concern. It is so great having Raul Esparza back as while Dr Chilton is a vulture picking over the scraps of everyone else’s work and falling foul to his compulsive imitation he adds much needed humor in the darkness.

Seeing his pitches failing over and over again doesn’t get boring and while he fails in finding a partner in his Hannibal hunting venture he motivates everyone else to do something without him. Mason wants to understand Hannibal and while he knows Chilton cannot provide his entry into the mind of his enemy he finds a psychiatrist who knows Hannibal intimately. Pointing this out in crude and slut shaming terms is what Mason does if you had forgotten how repulsive he is. The choking and drooling while Alana watches on calmly and looking like she gives none of the fucks is what you get for being so awful; this is not the way to find out who Hannibal is.

Later on Mason turns down the indecent remarks asking why Hannibal favored Alana. Amusement is the answer and “things either amuse him or they don’t and if they don’t… well you didn’t.” Nice burn. A quick costume note as Mason is wearing a plaid suit in this scene and he is pulling the imitation through clothes card in the same way Chilton did – is this so he can better understand Hannibal?

Taste is how you get to Hannibal and Alana accurately suggests Europe is where they should focus their hunt. Wine and truffles is how you track him as “His name will change, but his taste will not.” One other taste is Will Graham and Alana uses what Chilton said to her while she was in recovery as he discussed Will being back in Hannibal’s orbit. Manipulation is what is required to get to this point and even though Will dismissed Alana when she went to see him at Hannibal’s in a heartbreaking scene (as I mentioned on Twitter I still ship Alana and Will even though it makes zero sense at this point) motions have still been set in place and Will does indeed head out into the great beyond. By being at Will’s house at the end of the episode and telling Jack that Will knows what he needs to do it suggests Alana has had some influence over events set in motion. That or Will just needs someone to dog sit again.

Another interesting thing about Alana working with Mason comes with this idea of control and power. Mason in the past has been a fearful figure particularly for his sister Margot who he has violated in the most horrific way by not only terminating her pregnancy, but also removing her womb. His favorite drink is a martini with her tears and he still has plenty of goons around to prepare “the theater of Hannibal’s death” and yet Alana shows no fear in front of him.

Power comes in many different forms and Alana holds all the cards here through her psychiatric skills and her knowledge of Hannibal’s preferences. In this wide shot we see the petite Alana at the same height as Mason; she might have a cane but Mason’s injuries are far more severe and she is not afraid to get close and stare this man down.

She mentions to Chilton in the hospital that a lot of marrow went into her blood which might change the way she thinks and this Alana is all defense. While it is fun to see her embracing this darker side I hope she doesn’t lose too much of the empathy and compassion that gave us a warmer and more empathetic point of view in this bleak world.

Costuming wise Alana’s attire in this episode is just as exciting for me as everything Bedelia wore in the premiere and she is the only one wearing bold color, as Bedelia was. First of all Alana has ditched the wrap dresses and pencil skirts for pants (the cast promo photos pointed to this change) and by changing her style it further adds to this hardening of her character. The red lipstick and going from a lose wave to tighter curls gives an Old Hollywood impression as if Alana is starring in her own film noir. All she needs is a cigarette holder and birdcage veil (and Caroline Dharvernas has the perfect look for this).

Alana and Will are working the angles in very different ways but they woke up from their ordeals in very similar initially bathed in white light surroundings. One of them looks far more at peace than the other.

One hospital awakening which is in stark contrast is Jack’s as he has a companion laying next to him and his first conversation that we see is not with Dr Chilton (Abigail morphs into Chilton for Will). Last week Jack mentioned that he died, an assertion he repeats to Bella. Jack survived by not pulling out the glass sticking out of his throat and the version of his bleeding shows the blood flowing up towards the sky. There are plenty of repeats of what went down in the season finale such as the Hannibal/Will stabbing embrace and different takes on these moments add to the operatic horror.

Bella is still dying of cancer and this is where my heart felt like it had been stomped on as while Jack survived he then watches his wife die. As with the cutting between Will being saved and Abigail’s dead body being prepared, with Jack and Bella it switches between getting ready for their wedding and for her funeral. It is all about ritual by picking out dresses and putting on makeup but with very different end results. The flowers are switched out for candles and Alana appears in front of Jack where his wife once stood.

Even though Hannibal’s only appearance comes via a letter we see him writing to Jack offering condolences (not for stabbing him in the neck, but for the woman he had affection for even if he played with her desire to die with a toss of a coin) his presence is felt throughout. The discovery of this note comes with the well timed appearance from a bespectacled Will Graham and while he previously rejected Jack reaching out to him by revealing the why of his phone call warning Hannibal – he wanted to run away with him – he is there for Jack when he needs it most. Will earlier neglects to tell him that a version of their take down Hannibal plan ends with him getting stabbed by both Hannibal and Will.

Jack and Will are frank with each other and after Will has revealed his truth to Jack, Jack does the same telling Will that he knows what is coming for him while handing him Hannibal’s note as if it is a clue. It is like everyone knows how this game is going to play out and they are still going to proceed; not everyone has the same self preservation as the scar tissue which grows to protect.

Oh and Will is wearing his glasses in this scene as it is pre-Italy trip and suggests he is still hiding something from Jack.

When Chilton goes to see Jack as he is packing up his FBI desk he of course gets rejected as he has done by everyone else, but he does something very important and reminds Jack of his role in getting Will Graham into the position he is in using a lovely fishing ‘dangling’ metaphor. This is where Jack’s guilt of borrowing Will’s imagination from last week and once again Chilton is the catalyst, but not in the way he would want to be.

“There is no opportunity for you here” Will informs Chilton after he offers friendship by suggesting he literally knows how he feels. This is not the case and Will told Chiyo when they met that Hannibal is the only person who has ever understood him which is why he will fix a boat and sail to him. When they cut to the welding scene a small part (okay big part) hoped “Pony” would start playing.

Happy hunting!

Tags: "Aperitivo", 3.04, Caroline Dhavernas, costume design, Gina Torres, Hannibal, Hugh Dancy, Laurence Fishburne, Mads Mikkelsen, Raul Esparza

Comments 4 Comments
Categories Hannibal
Author Emma Fraser

Own a Piece of Hannibal and that Cancellation News

23 Jun

Last night I came out of a screening of Inside Out feeling like I’d had an emotional workout of the best kind (instant new Pixar favorite) and as I glanced at my phone I noticed an all exclamation tweet that had been sent my way. Upon opening it a big wall of sadness hit as it was a friend alerting me to the Hannibal cancellation news and the whole of my TL was discussing this surprise announcement. Of course the ratings are terrible so that part was not a shock, but it was the timing that came out of the blue.

Cue all the crying Will Graham gifs (do an image search – there are many). Alana Bloom gives good rage for this situation too. And then came the reasoning as this isn’t necessarily Hannibal’s final meal (I will see myself out) and the show is still being shopped around to non-NBC parties. Like many of its characters, this is not an easy show to kill it off.

Now might be a good time to take advantage of the Hannibal auction taking place on the Prop Store featuring 125 items from the first two seasons including costumes, ID badges, sketches, limbs and recipe cards. Want to own Will’s prison jumpsuit? Well you can and there are two days left to bid on these items. Here are some of the pieces we would love to own.

Halloween costume sorted with the all important vinyl ‘Kill Suit‘ which Hannibal has worn on multiple occasions including when he framed Dr Chilton and admired another serial killers work last season.

Leather jackets are a staple of many characters who work in law enforcement and I was remiss in not including Beverly Katz in my end of year round-up. But maybe it was due to feeling emotional as this is from the episode last season when Beverly ventured too far into Hannibal’s home.

An Alana Bloom DVF wrap dress! Worn in the season 2 finale “Mizumono” (which I wrote about here) and it is the one item I would really want to bid on even if it is far too teeny tiny for me to wear. A huge non shocker to anyone who has read my Hannibal costuming posts and knows my love of all things Alana and DVF.

After the cancellation news we are all Hannibal’s broken teacup and now you can also own the teacup from the season 1 episode “Ceuf.”

The quintessential Will Graham season 1 ensemble (you will have to provide your own pants) from “Rôti” consisting of a blue Wind River long sleeve shirt and forest green American Eagle jacket. Perfect for solving all totem pole building murders.

While the Alana Bloom wrap dress would be my number one pick this three piece custom-made suit as worn by Mads Mikkelsen in “Tome-wan” really is the top item. The ultimate Hannibal attire and it comes with the paisley tie and blood stained shirt. This is what Hannibal is wearing when he is suspended above Mason Verger’s hungry pigs, which is why the shirt comes with quite a bit of wear and tear. It is no surprise this is currently the piece with the highest bid.

To browse through all 125 lots head here and hopefully there will be some happier Hannibal news in the days to come. For now here is a promo for the next episode, which I am very excited about for reasons that will become clear when you click play.

https://youtu.be/P0zYdIQZfTw

Tags: Alana Bloom, Beverly Katz, Caroline Dhavernas, Christopher Hargadon, costume design, Diane von Furstenberg, Hannibal, Hettienne Park, Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, prop auction, Will Graham

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Categories Hannibal, Preview
Author Emma Fraser

Make Believe and Fairy Tales on Hannibal: “Belief Comes with Imagination”

19 Jun

Once upon a time there was a little boy who lived in a castle in and then he transformed into the monster we see today. What made him become this way doesn’t involve spells or curses or a wolf in the woods and on Hannibal this week we found out a little more about how Hannibal came to be. Imagination is a tool used to protect from past experiences, to conjure up an idea for a better future or to understand what it taking place in the present and on Hannibal this tends to involve a dead person or some kind of horror. This is a land lacking in handsome princes or fairy godmothers waiting to save the day.

Will Graham’s mind has been twisted and manipulated by Hannibal, but he is not the only one who has take liberty with Will’s rare empathy skills. In season 1 Jack asked Will if he could borrow his imagination and this haunts Jack in “Secondo” as he joins the list of people who survived the bloodbath, but he still bears the physical and mental scars of this encounter. Jack tells Inspector Pazzi that he is not here to catch Pazzi’s monster instead he has come for Will Graham as ultimately he set him down this path by borrowing his imagination in the first place. Guilt plays a big part in this journey and as they are chatting in a church it is not too much of a leap when the discussion turns to a belief in a higher power. It also delivers yet another magnificent shot and this location continues to stun. The color palette in Italy is mostly golds with red being uses sparingly for the candles, Bedelia’s dresses and well, blood.

Jack thinks belief comes with imagination and “we also imagine the possibility that we all live on after death.” He goes another step further citing that they both died on that night and unlike Abigail they are still part of this world. Jack also believes that while borrowing Will’s imagination he broke it, but somehow Will has managed to piece it back together again unlike the tea cup in Hannibal’s own story.

So what of Hannibal’s past and how he came to be the way he is? Well first of all I want to preface this with saying that my Hannibal knowledge outside of this show consists of Red Dragon (the book) and the movies Silence of the Lambs and Manhunter. So it is somewhat limited and I found some of the sister chat to be a little bit vague in places because I know nothing of Mischa aside from the brief mention last season and what this episode reveals. And these revelations involve a lot of inference to what actually happened to her; however it is clear that Hannibal ate her and now he feels like this is the only way he can resolve things with Will. That is an interesting solution from the various discussions between Bedelia and Hannibal this week which take place in front of the fire, while taking a bath and during piano playing. Unconventional in both form and conclusion. Not sure how happy Will is going to feel when he finds out he might be the next dinner party main course and the center piece of Hannibal showing his cooking prowess.

Back to Mischa and the creepy looking misty castle which could exist on the pages of Grimms’ Fairy Tales as the catalyst and Will won’t allow this trauma to provide an excuse for what Hannibal does, but what did happen to her? Well she definitely died and they play with who did the deed; it appears the imprisoned man did it, but when it comes to Hannibal’s manipulations it really is hard to figure out the reality from the fiction (I seem to recall someone mentioning that in the book Nazis are involved somehow).

Will makes an interesting point as he tells Chiyo “we construct fairy tales and we accept them. Our minds concoct all sorts of fantasies when we don’t want to believe something.” This relates to what he is telling her about Hannibal and the ‘smile’ he left him plus the various other crimes Hannibal has committed which all points to inaccuracies in the story she has been living with. Chiyo has been living in limbo out in the woods in a more twisted version of a princess locked away in a tower.

Will then pulls a very Hannibal move manipulating the situation so Chiyo will kill the man she has been in charge of for however many years. He claims he did this for her and this is eerily similar to how Hannibal would justify this action of setting this man free just so he will attack her.

We have seen Hannibal do this in season 1 when he sent Gideon after Alana and then Will after Gideon. The result was the same except Chiyo killed her mark whereas Will simply wounded his. And up pops the word which circles around the show constantly as Chiyo tells Will “you are curious too.” Everyone is and it’s how these characters manage their curiosities which defines them. Hannibal is the only one who knows the truth as he “created a story out of events that only he experienced. All sorrows can be warm if you put them in a story.” Even monsters need to construct a version to make them feel better or to justify their actions.

What of Will’s transformation and the tableau he creates at the end; is it a calling card for Hannibal even though he knows he will never return to see it? Maybe he took a photo and sent it to him on Snapchat. Like many things on this show there are plenty of ways to interpret this setup as Will might be doing this to emulate Hannibal or merely understand him.

Is Will slipping again thanks to how far he has been pushed by both Jack and Hannibal? It is also unclear what Will wants to achieve when he does catch up with Hannibal or which side he is on; he has a bond with Hannibal due to Hannibal’s deep understanding of him which makes his actions very hard to predict and this firefly creation only makes him seem more unstable. One thing that is clear is that Hannibal would be proud of this creation and manipulation.

The game of cat and mouse keeps expanding with new players joining the party each week; Hannibal doesn’t seem too bothered and is acting in a cavalier manner drawing everyone to him. This includes the dinner party which featured Hannibal making a funny and it made me full on snort laugh (super dark I know) as after he plunges an ice pick into Sogliato’s brain he mentions how this “may have been impulsive.” Except it wasn’t all that unplanned as he served Punch Romaine noting it was given to the first class passengers on the Titanic which ended up being the last meal for some. Bedelia also technically kills Sogliato by removing the ice pick from his brain which Hannibal notes with some glee. Bedelia tells Hannibal that he is enticing his would be captures and this goes back to something she said last season when she mentioned that whimsy would be his downfall.

Last time we saw Bedelia she displayed a nervous disposition regarding her current situation whereas this week she seems more in control and she goes as far as mentioning that she has an exit strategy, which is surely a dangerous thing to mention in front of her companion. There is a trust between them and it seems like the more awful things she witnesses Hannibal doing the more she lets herself get drawn in. The hair washing scene is the height of this kind of intimacy and Bedelia acts as a surrogate to his sister and this relationship does not come across as sexual in any way.

She once again submerges herself in the bath water but it is no longer inky black and instead is a murky brown, which is more to do with what Hannibal has used on her hair suggesting she is now far more comfortable with these circumstances she finds herself in.

There are some other repeated images that Hannibal loves to throw up and twist including these stunning shots of Will in his memory palace chatting to Hannibal about the creation of this space. Oh hey Hannibal in your old plaid suit.

The kaleidoscope effect of Hannibal’s Baltimore home/office reflects how this room “holds sound and motion” although it also suggests the fragmented nature of those long ago places which represent “pain and shards of glass.”

Imagination twists with reality and the fairy tales that take place in this world don’t end with a happily ever; the beast will not turn into a prince and the surviving characters will have to construct a safe space of their own to deal with the aftermath. And next week it looks like some more players will be joining this party.

Tags: "Secondo", 3.03, Gillian Anderson, Hannibal, Hugh Dancy, Laurence Fishburne, Mads Mikkelsen, Tao Okamoto

Comments 3 Comments
Categories Hannibal
Author Emma Fraser

The Return of Will Graham’s Glasses on Hannibal

12 Jun

When Will Graham was released from the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane he underwent a change in style or a makeover if you will. He ditched his signature glasses and switched to a more tailored look as he mimicked Hannibal’s refined sartorial choices without entering plaid suit territory as Dr. Chilton made the mistake in doing. Last week’s Hannibal premiere featured Will Graham in name alone, but fear not as “Primavera” shifts the focus back onto Hannibal’s favorite companion (the knife to the gut might not agree with this assessment).

When we last saw Will he was left bleeding profusely while attempting to stem the blood spurting out of Abigail’s neck and the opening moments this week revisit this traumatic moment. Hannibal plays with reality and fantasy in its structure and it has done since the opening scene of season 1 when we first experience seeing a crime through the mind of Will Graham. This episode spends a lot of time within Will from his mind palace realization pointing him to Hannibal’s location to everything involving Abigail. Will’s glasses are an important costume choice which not only represents Will’s past and time with Abigail, but how he uses them to shield himself from the world.

Hannibal doesn’t like to kill its characters, well not the recurring cast anyway so when Abigail walked into Will’s room alive and well there was a small part of me that took it at face value. I mean if Doctor Chilton can survive having his insides taken out and getting shot in the face then who is to say Abigail couldn’t live through two deep cuts to the throat? Except there is always a sense from the outset that she is not really here; other than the doctor with the tea cup filled with water no other person acknowledges her and who is to say this moment in the hospital was real? Or maybe Will had another visitor all together. The return of Will’s glasses 8 months later when they venture to Norman Chapel in Palermo, Italy signifies a barrier being put up between him and the world.

Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi is introduced this week and he has also been chasing Hannibal; his has been a long one spanning 20 years and while the broken heart symbolism is for Will alone there is significance for Pazzi who has been witness to Hannibal’s murder tableau making ways. Will’s glasses remain on for their first few meetings once again acting as a shield of sorts.

Even going so far as wearing them in the black and white flashback as Will visualizes Pazzi’s encounters with Hannibal or ‘Il Mostro’ as he refers to him. This feels very much like season 1 Will and the presence of Abigail heightens this further.

A brief interlude and oh, hello photo of Mads Mikkelsen from 20 years ago* that Pazzi shows Will. Another occasion where a show uses a real photo instead of a terrible photoshop version joining The Americans on my list of shows that do this well.

*Update – on Twitter Bryan Fuller notes that this is a photo from Mads Mikklesen’s Danish show Rejseholdet “with the hair from our production designer Rory Cheyne for a younger look.” Rejseholdet aired between 2000-2004 making it shy of the 20 years mark so the hair switch makes sense. Also this now falls under ‘good photoshop’ because this very much looks like his hair.

At the crime scene Will removes the glasses; first in his vision of how the body came to be which then turns into a twisted nightmare of the shell of Dimmond combined with the good old fashioned Hannibal stag imagery. Quick observation time – this is a perfectly okay beast to show on TV:

But when it comes to art certain things have to be blurred out to get through Standards and Practices. Network rules confuse me a lot.

The repetition of this notion that there is “some other world” where things have turned out in a different manner is a direct clue that Abigail is all in Will’s mind. If he could change things he would and there is a version where “no one had to die.” At this point we still don’t know whether Alana or Jack is alive, but the previews and promo photos suggest they both survived, but without this clarification there is still the chance that they are referring to either one of them. Alas it was always going to be Abigail as the sacrificial lamb; she is Will’s punishment for his deception and the breaking of the tea cup. Abigail’s appearance is different from how we have seen her in the past as her clothes are more grown up as if she has been given a chance to live and mature.

Saying goodbye is hard to do, even when the person is not really there and it is important that Will takes the glasses off breaking the spell. The only place Will could make for Abigail is in his head and he did this in the past when he thought she was dead the first time. Fishing peacefully was how he pictured it before and there is a flash of this as it is revealed what really happened with Will after he was stabbed; he sees Abigail’s dead body lying on Hannibal’s floor and this is followed by a sequence which cuts between Will in the hospital and Abigail in the morgue. It is heartbreaking, but Will can’t hold onto this delusion if he wants to find Hannibal even if it is unclear what Will is going to do if and when he finds him. Despite what has transpired his loyalty is vague and his declaration of forgiveness could be seen as sincere or as another trick to draw Hannibal out. Whatever it is this high stakes game of cat and mouse has a way of drawing multiple players in.

It has been said many times and yet it is worth repeating that Hannibal is a show like no other on TV at the moment and there are a couple of other visual moments I would like to discuss.

First Will Graham’s mind palace as he discusses Hannibal’s own imaginary construction of this name.

By placing the hospital bed between the two chairs which are steeped in so much history between Will and Hannibal it not only holds a strong emotional connection, but also points to a version of this show that no longer exists. It is unlikely we will see them in this location again (flashbacks/imagination aside) and yet it is definitely not the last time they will be sitting opposite each other.

As paper rains down Will experiences the burning session and the moment Hannibal realized Will had deceived him (he smelt the not dead Freddie Lounds on him). For Will it gives him the clue as to where Hannibal might be hiding. Not that Hannibal is really hiding as we saw last week.

For Alana and Bedelia inky water consumes them whether through choice or as a kind of poison. Will’s experience in Hannibal’s kitchen leads to a different kind of drowning as he is consumed by the blood of Abigail, the stag and his own deep wound.

As Will sinks down into the depths he is alone and his face cannot be seen; the shot is not quite as bleak as Alana’s entire consumption, nor is at romantically lit as Bedelia; once again placing Will Graham in the blurry point between going to Hannibal and wanting to stop him. Just what will he do when they finally comes face to face?

Tags: "Primavera", 3.02, Hannibal, Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen

Comments 7 Comments
Categories Hannibal
Author Emma Fraser

Hannibal’s European Vacation: Why so Blue, Bedelia?

5 Jun

“You seem more interested in making appearances than maintaining them.”

Morality, ethics and aesthetics are all covered in the first back and forth between Hannibal and Bedelia in the season 3 premiere of Hannibal, which takes place after a decadent party and Hannibal flexing his prowess through Dante and dance. Appearances are important and maintaining his cover seems like less of a concern when measuring egos and playing a game of cat and mouse with whatever person lies before him. These encounters include talk of fairy tales – Hannibal lives on the opposite end of the fantastical spectrum which Pushing Daisies also inhabits – playing the game of ‘how many times can you say ‘bonsoir’ before you kill someone?’ or giving a dinner guest delicacies to make them taste better.

Willing participants are hard to find and part of this season opener starts to explore why Bedelia is Hannibal’s European vacation (can it still be called a vacation if you are technically on the run?) partner and what her motivations are.

Professional curiosity is a term which has been used on Hannibal in the past including Alana citing this as reason why she couldn’t get romantically involved with Will Graham back in season 1 as she didn’t think she would be able to stop analyzing him. Curiosity is also something Bedelia cites on several occasions and it is like she hasn’t heard the well known phrase involving a feline. When it comes to making appearances Bedelia stands out in a crowd and the blue ensemble which I have been clamoring to see within the context of an episode was unveiled in “Antipasto” and it resembles the most incognito spy from the 1940s. Covert is not a word either Bedelia or Hannibal are considering when picking out their attire first thing in the morning and they are sartorially suited to each other.

Other than the carousel which lights up the shot, Bedelia is the only one wearing color in the square full of people with the local policeman taking note of her in a big way. He isn’t suspicious and instead gives her a flirtatious salute; he is not going to forget the woman in blue.

Bedelia is also caught on camera and this one seems kind of deliberate as she stares directly at the CCTV ‘eye’ while she is at the train station. Being enveloped in Hannibal’s world limits escape options as we witnessed in the house of horrors at the end of last season and everyone who came at Hannibal in his home were left broken and bleeding. Bedelia wants to flee attempting to do so later in the episode, but her curiosity coupled with her darkness that Hannibal has tapped into gives her a reason to stay. Even if she knows that ultimately she will end up on Hannibal’s plate.

Bathed in gold light in this twisted fairy tale life and coming home from the ball temporarily breaks the spell; giving Bedelia the opportunity to question Hannibal’s motives. Despite the warm light there is something incredibly icy in this scene as both circle around the other talking as if they are still in a therapy session. At the same time there is an intimacy which is evident in the way Bedelia asks him to unzip her dress (the same dress from these stunning promo photos).

Flashbacks reveal how Hannibal and Bedelia ended up on the plane together as her residence is where he cleaned off Will, Abigail and Jack’s blood. Hannibal is all about equal opportunities bathing and Bedelia had the opportunity to end it all when she pointed her gun at him as he stood their naked; instead she went for option number two with a fun packed trip to Europe. The why of this comes from the other jump into the past and the aftermath of her patient attack and subsequent murder (oh hey Zachary Quinto!) with Hannibal’s manipulation going according to schedule. He wipes her bloody brow and gets her to ask for his help while unlocking the darkness in her.

These revelations come after the bath of sinking into the depths and water is hugely symbolic on Hannibal. Will Graham’s ‘mind palace’ fishing sessions rest on water as cleansing and calming, but water also signifies how something can envelope. As Bedelia drifts down she is doing so out of choice and at this point she is a willing participant, well as willing as you can be with Hannibal who is a master manipulator like no other.

It is important that we can still see her in this shot as it represents some level of choice in how she floats downwards. The look of Hannibal is unlike any other show on TV and as Bedelia lets go she is lit up as if she is a figure on a renaissance painting and the light of heaven shines on her as she sinks into hell. Considering this is on network TV I am surprised to see something like this get through S&P, but maybe the ethereal atmosphere somehow trumps nudity (nipples have been erased/are not free on this occasion).

Yes she pulls out of the water with a shocked look on her face and it is this part of Bedelia that chooses to flee from Hannibal; albeit an unsuccessful attempt as she gets splattered with blood once again. Despite her assertion that she is observing, this is not something you get to do when Hannibal is involved and participation is a necessary requirement. It just might not be one you are conscious of.

Bedelia’s bathtub trip echoes Alana Bloom’s envelopment by inky water in the season 2 finale with one important difference as instead of sinking into it, Alana is consumed from the bottom up and we can’t see any of her below the surface.

“All I see is dark swarming behind my eyelids. I dream darkness comes into me. It comes and it is insidious. Up my nose, into my ears. It comes and I feel poisoned.” Bedelia is bathed in light as she drifts further down whereas Alana is consumed by the horrors of Hannibal’s crimes and her blindness to them.

In Hannibal’s flashbacks we see his time with Gideon in black and white. While no one can replace Will Graham as Hannibal’s favorite companion it doesn’t stop Hannibal from auditioning others or at least finding a temporary substitute. Even after he has helped consume two of his own limbs, Gideon is rather zen about everything that is taking place – the crimes he committed shows he is not of sound mind – and gets to the heart of the matter reflecting on Hannibal’s desire to eat with company and not just eating the company pointing to Will as his dream dinner date. Even a cannibal yearns for companionship.

How soon will Bedelia outlast her stay? Maybe she should stop eating the oysters.

Tags: "Antipasto", 3.01, Caroline Dhavernas, costume design, Gillian Anderson, Hannibal, Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, Zachary Quinto

Comments 12 Comments
Categories Hannibal
Author Emma Fraser

Serving Up Two Delicious Hannibal Season 3 Previews

26 May

The Hannibal countdown now enters the less than two weeks zone and we’re already salivating at what this new season will bring (it is very hard to avoid any food puns when discussing this show but just know I am shaking my head at myself). As the new episodes are within sniffing distance the onslaught of new footage steps up including a look at who survived the bloodbath that closed out last year and what Hannibal has been up to while he has been on the run with Bedelia. By the looks of things entertaining and dining. Sometimes with the guest ending up on a plate.

Hannibal of course can recite Dante’s first sonnet, ride a motorbike without messing up his hair and talk oh so casually about killing people as the ‘Hannibal’s Dilemma’ preview reveals. However he is still being hunted and Bedelia warns him that he is going to get caught; the super bashed and bloody appearance adds weight to her theory. There are also flashes of the characters left behind to pick up the pieces after what Hannibal did to them, plus a glimpse at new additions to the cast such as Tao Okamoto who is playing Chiyoh. Oh and also some characters we know to be dead show up (flashback? fantasy sequence? both?).

If you are a regular TV Ate My Wardrobe reader you will know how much I love talking about the costume design on Hannibal and if you can hear clapping and screaming right now it is down to a glimpse of this Bedelia ensemble in this preview:

The color, the hat and the style is everything and their European ‘on the run’ collection is one of the many things I am highly anticipating when Hannibal returns June 4.

In the second preview or rather the ‘first look’ the cast discuss the new season in a slightly more in-depth fashion showing some of the same images we have already seen and giving some background context; this includes expanding on the Bride of Hannibal storyline. Once again there are some people present in this video whose fate was left hanging in the balance and I think it is safe to say that Will, Alana and Jack are all very much alive. How well they are mentally is unclear and the hunt to find Hannibal will not rest on Will Graham’s shoulders alone.

Another costume that has caused much excitement here at TV Ate My Wardrobe is Alana’s plaid pantsuit from these cast promo shots. Sometimes clothes worn for these shoots are only for promotional purposes so I was thrilled to see Alana wearing the plaid pantsuit in this preview. She also has an additional item and the fall or rather massive shove from the first floor window has left her requiring a cane.

As you can see in the photo above Alana’s will cross paths with Margot Verger (another victim of Hannibal’s manipulation) and there is a suggestion in the preview that things might get a lot more intimate between the pair. I only say suggestion because it is such a quick cut and this show loves a good dream/fantasy sequence so who knows what is real. But yes smooching is definitely on the more intimate end of hangouts.

We also get a glimpse of the storyline which will dominate the second half of the season with Francis Dolarhyde aka ‘Red Dragon’ which looks very promising (and terrifying).

Watch the two previews below and for more season 3 chat head here. Hannibal returns Thursday, June 4.

https://youtu.be/bhdK-iTjT6M

https://youtu.be/9pNXLmDdrL0

Tags: Caroline Dhavernas, costume design, Gillian Anderson, Hannibal, Hugh Dancy, Katharine Isabelle, Laurence Fishburne, Richard Armitage, Tao Okamoto, Will Graham

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Hannibal, Preview
Author Emma Fraser

Hannibal Season 3 Promo Photos Include Costume Changes Galore (Super Spoiler Warning)

12 May

The end of Hannibal last season was a bloodbath with four characters lying on the floor in and around Hannibal’s residence with various life threatening injuries while Hannibal ditched Baltimore for pastures new with his former therapist, Bedelia. Hannibal returns in just under a month (June 4) and so the promo department has gifted us with some cast photos from the new season.

Now this is where the SUPER SPOILER WARNING comes in as by all accounts these photos reveal who survived the traumatic events, but there are too much incredible costume changes in these shots to wait a whole month before I can discuss them. So I’m going to kick off with a pair who were the only ones not bleeding and broken at the end of last year.

Serving up so much poise and pretty much making me want to bow down right now; what a power couple! The focus of this campaign including the recently released promo is this relationship between Hannibal and Bedelia with #BrideofHannibal as the nifty Twitter friendly hashtag. Are they married? Well certainly in how they present themselves to unfortunate dinner guests and this dynamic is one I can’t wait to see explored further.

Speaking of ‘the bride’ Bryan Fuller shared this incredible poster on Twitter with Gillian Anderson serving up so much Marlene Dietrich realness as Dr. Bedelia du Maurier.

Hannibal’s costuming is still full of style and flair; swapping out the plaid for a range of different pattern and he’s even got a new leather jacket for his European wardrobe (which you can see in the gallery below). Hannibal gets a little bit more sartorially flashy when he’s on the run it would seem. No laying low here.

He’s not the only one changing up his look in the new promo photos as Alana’s colorful prints have been replaced with black hinting at how much her relationship and subsequent horrific breakup have impacted her. Ah yes so this is the spoilery stuff I was talking about as three out of the four house of horror victims all appear very much alive. Abigail is nowhere to be seen so it is safe to assume this was one throat cut too many. Or like Chilton she might have many lives and because she’s not a regular she doesn’t get a spot in these pictures. I am leaning towards the first option as the more likely. There are two batches of promo photos; one in the ornate and decadent Italian looking location with the second half doing the plain background thing (click on the gallery below for a better look).

The Alana plaid suit image is exciting – I actually yelped with joy when I saw this photo for the first time – for a number of reasons; she is wearing pants which is a huge departure for her usual ultra feminine wrap dress/pencil skirt styling. And even more notable is the choice of pattern because plaid instantly conjures up images of Hannibal. Is she emulating his style as a way to get into his mind and help track him down? Sometimes the clothes worn in promo photos are simply for this purpose alone, but Alana’s green ensemble from her season 2 shots ended up featuring in a pivotal moment for this character’s journey last season and I have a feeling this plaid pantsuit is not just for the promos.

Alana suffered a great deal last season as Hannibal’s champion; she was the one who insisted that he was innocent and she also had a romantic relationship with him (the unpleasant names Alana got called in comment sections was nauseating). By putting her in this position of Hannibal believer she ended up looking incredibly naive and I hope this season goes to some lengths to rectify this narrative stumbling block. I wrote about both her costuming and the season 2 Alana problems at length here.

Over season 2 Will’s costuming evolved from his usual slightly rumpled style to tailored coats and a more polished appearance as he mimicked Hannibal’s fancier attire (but never so far as delving into plaid suits). In these new photos he looks halfway between the man he was and the man he is now. The smart blazer remains, but we see the tailored coat ditched for a style that is more reminiscent of Will circa season 1. Also worth noting is the continued absence of the glasses Will used to hide behind.

We could also split the two photos up by calling one set fancy and the other work threads. Jack in the second collection is also dressing a little bit like Hannibal; his jacket nods to the style we are accustomed to seeing on Hannibal. Gone are the hat and the ties, appearing a whole lot less FBI.

And there is a new character joining the promo photo ranks with Tao Okamoto as Chiyo (Lady Murasaki’s handmaid). Interesting choice of attire in the second half of the photos as she looks prepared for swashbuckling while teaming up with Will. I’m sure I will have a lot more to say about this character after she makes her first appearance, for now I am very excited to see another woman joining the team.

Watch the new promo and check out the gallery below for a detailed look at the costume changes. Hannibal returns
Thursday, June 4.

https://youtu.be/lQ4Bn5YuGcE